Spielberg's Classic Film Jaws Being Digitally Remastered For Upcoming Blu-ray Release

Posted on April 10, 2012

In honor of Universal's 100th Anniversary Celebration, the studio is undertaking a massive restoration project of many film, including Academy Award Winner Steven Spielberg's iconic summer classic, Jaws. The film will be released on Blu-ray for the first time on August 14th. The film has been digitally remastered and fully restored.

The team of technicians used the original negative of the film. But Spielberg says the negative was actually "pretty crummy." There were vertical scratches on the film, for example. Using a special liquid which erases the scratches, the film goes through the liquid bath, then the film is scanned digitally. Then they used high end editing software to manipulate the pixels to erase all the damage. It's really fascinating, painstaking work. Colorists had to match all the shots. Spielberg says the new HD version will look better on an HD TV at home that it did in the theater when it came out.

The sound was also remixed from the original monotracks. It was a very difficult process, especially given how crucial the music is to the tone of the movie. The output will be both film and digital. Digital files are easy to work with, but it important to preserve the 35mm film which will last more than 100 years. It looks fabulous -- we can't wait to see the final verison. Take a look:

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